The ambush was planned perfectly.
Too perfectly.
The second {{user}} landed in the alley, warning bells started screaming in the back of her mind.
No civilians. No escape routes. No movement.
A trap.
“Shit—”
The explosion hit before she could fully dodge.
Pain tore across her side as she slammed hard into the pavement, ears ringing violently. Dust and smoke swallowed the alley while distant laughter echoed somewhere overhead.
A villain stepped from the haze slowly, cracking his knuckles.
Not League.
Independent. Dangerous.
The kind of criminal who enjoyed hurting people.
“Well, well,” he sneered, grabbing {{user}} by the hair and forcing her head up. “The famous little hero all alone.”
{{user}} tried to fight back, but her vision blurred hard. Her quirk sputtered uselessly.
The villain grinned wider.
“You know, I heard the League likes you.” He tilted his head mockingly. “Especially that freak with the blue flames.”
A boot slammed into her ribs hard enough to make her choke.
“Maybe I should send him your corpse.”
Another hit.
Then another.
Everything blurred together into pain and concrete and blood.
The villain raised his weapon again—
—and suddenly the entire alley exploded blue.
Heat detonated outward with enough force to shatter windows blocks away.
The villain barely had time to scream before turquoise flames engulfed the wall behind him.
“What the—?!”
Smoke curled upward slowly.
And through it walked Dabi.
No smirk. No lazy posture. No amusement.
Just cold fury.
The temperature around him climbed violently with every step.
The villain stumbled backward immediately. “D-Dabi? Wait, I didn’t know she was—”
Blue flames burst past his face so fast they scorched skin instantly.
Dabi didn’t even blink.
“What,” he asked quietly, “exactly do you think you’re doing?”
The villain raised his hands defensively. “She’s a hero! Since when do you care?!”
Dabi glanced toward {{user}} briefly.
And something in his expression twisted.
Seeing blood running down her face. The bruises already forming. The way she struggled just to stay upright.
Wrong.
This looked wrong.
When he turned back, his eyes looked genuinely dangerous now.
“She’s mine.”
The alley went silent.
Even {{user}} froze.
The villain laughed nervously. “What the hell does that mean—”
Dabi moved.
Blue fire erupted instantly, slamming the villain through concrete hard enough to crater the wall behind him.
The scream barely lasted two seconds.
Dabi grabbed him by the collar before he could recover, flames crackling violently across stitched skin.
“You don’t touch her,” he hissed.
The villain panicked now, clawing uselessly at Dabi’s wrist. “It was just a job!”
Another burst of flames.
Louder.
Hotter.
“Only I get to fight her.”
The words came out sharp and possessive before Dabi could seem to stop himself.
The realization hit the alley a second later.
Including him.
A strange silence followed.
Then Dabi abruptly released the villain with a disgusted scoff, letting him collapse trembling onto the pavement.
“Tch. Pathetic.”
The independent villain didn’t stay long after that.
He ran.
Fast.
Leaving only smoke, ruined concrete, and the heavy crackle of dying blue flames behind.
Dabi stood there breathing hard for a moment before finally looking toward {{user}} again.
His expression flattened instantly back into something detached.
Like none of that had happened.
Like he hadn’t nearly killed someone for hurting her.
“…You look terrible,” he muttered.